The present invention relates to a bottle neck cover or capsule of the kind used to mount the upper parts of the neck of a bottle the mouth of which has been closed by a cork, screw-cap, bung or other form of closure, and exposed parts of the closure to provide a tamper-evidence cover for the closure, and an ornamental addition.
According to the present invention there is provided a bottle having a neck the mouth of which is closed by a bung, cork, screw-cap or other form of closure, the upper portions of the neck of the bottle and the exposed portion of the applied closure being covered by a capsule formed from tin, aluminum or any of these materials laminated with a synthetic resin film. The sides of the capsule are deformed inwardly into close contact with the surface of the neck of the bottle and any exposed laterally-facing surface of the closure, whereby the capsule is retained on the closure and provides a tamper-evidence cover for the closure.
Hitherto, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a capsule comprises a cap portion 1, skirt portion 2, and a tearable guarantee strip 3 connecting the cap portion 1 and the skirt portion 2. Weakening lines 4 and 5 are provided, respectively, at a boundary between the tearable guarantee strip 3 and the cap portion 1, and at a boundary between the tearable guarantee strip 3 and the skirt portion 2. The weakening lines 4 and 5 are generally formed by compressing a capsule body in the direction of thickness like a perforation. Accordingly, when pulling the tearable guarantee strip 3 outwardly, the tearable guarantee strip 3 is gradually torn and removed along the weakening lines 4 and 5 due to less strength of these lines formed compressively like a perforation. After removing completely the tearable guarantee strip 3 and the cap portion 1, the bottle is unsealed or open.
In this respect, the conventional weakening lines 4 and 5 are formed as illustrated in FIG. 2. That is, saw-tooth-like compressed sections 6 are formed at the boundary between the tearable guarantee strip 3 and the cap portion 1 as well as at the boundary between the tearable guarantee strip 3 and the skirt portion 2. A problem, however exists in the mentioned removal of the tearable guarantee strip 3 as follows. That is, at the time of pulling the tearable guarantee strip 3 circumferentially and outwardly by picking up a bulge thereof, there arises a disadvantage that non-compressed parts 7 each located between one tooth and another of the saw-tooth-like compressed sections 6 protrudes outwardly from the circumference of the bottle.
Notwithstanding, the mentioned disadvantage has not been considered serious because lead is employed as a material for the capsule. More specifically, since lead is a relatively soft material, there is almost no possibility of felling pain in a finger or injuring any finger in the case where the protrusions (i.e., burr) are touched. Recently, however, it has been pointed out that lead is disqualified for capsule material because lead is not suitable for health and is poisonous once it enters into the human body, resulting in lead poisoning and lead injury. It has been a recent trend to employ tin as a capsule material. Tin is a material harder than lead. Hence, the mentioned disadvantage of feeling pain or injuring a finger has become a serious problem. More specifically, in case of a tin capsule, there arises a serious problem of feeling pain in a finger or injuring a finger when touching a burr formed of the non-compressed parts 7. In particular, the skirt portion 2 is still left on the neck of the bottle after opening the bottle, being different from the tearable guarantee strip 3 and the cap portion 1 which are removed once the bottle is opened. As a result, the burr formed on the upper edge of the skirt portion 2 may cause pain in a finger or injure it when touching the burr at the time of handling the bottle. The situation is quite the same even when employing a soft aluminium which is also a material harder than lead.